Hamburgers
by OnceUponATimeLove
Summary: Belle and Rum finally get to have a hamburger...and another...and another. Read as they meet people they once knew and each other all over again. Will be T eventually
1. Pickles

**Enjoy!**

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Belle walked up to the pawn shop just as Dr. Whale walked out. He looked a fright, arm and shirt covered in blood, his clothes torn.

"Are you okay?" She asked worried. There was no love lost between them, how could she like the man that helped keep her locked up for 28 years? But she was concerned. If what she thought happened in the shop actually did happen in the shop then she wouldn't set foot in the place.

"I am now." He said. "Thanks to him." He jerked his head tersely towards the shop. She didn't understand.

"He hurt you?" she felt her eyes start to well up with tears.

"No, he healed me, now if you will excuse me..." He never finished his sentence as he pushed past her and left her standing there dumbfounded on the sidewalk.

Healed him?

Huh.

Belle finally pulled herself together and cautiously pushed her way into the shop.

"Rumpelstiltskin?" She called.

"Over here dearie." She heard his voice say from the backroom of the shop. Only she would ever discern the quiver of surprise in his normally confident tone.

She wandered back to where he was sitting in the dim light of his workroom. His suit jacket was tossed carelessly over the back of his chair and his shirtsleeves were rolled up as he worked to put together a fragmented stone gargoyle. She smiled slightly, knowing that no one else ever saw him in such a casual state.

"Can I do something for you, Belle?" He asked, glancing up only barely.

She hopped up to sit on the side of the wide oak table and swung her legs back and forth.

"Well its lunchtime, and I thought..." She trailed off.

"Thought what?" He glued on one last piece and appraised the statue with satisfaction before looking her straight in the eyes.

"Hamburgers."

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They sat in a booth at Grannies diner. Belle insisted she sit next to him and she propped her feet on the seat across from them. Rum feared that such an action would make him look, gasp, human! So he didn't follow suit.

They ordered hamburgers with everything and fries. Oh, and sweet tea, Ruby ended up leaving the pitcher.

They fell into an easy sort of banter, similar to their time in the Dark Castle. Belle laughed at him even when he didnt think he was being funny and he delighted in her laughter. the rest of the customers and staff in the diner looked at them with something akin to awe.

Finally the hamburgers came, Rum insisted that Belle try a french fry first, and she did, falling in love with her new favorite food. Then right before she took a bite of the hamburger he stopped her.

"Wait" he said, lifting the bun and pulling off these little weird green things. "These are poison to beautiful brunette women." He added them to his burger and she laughed at him before finally trying her new and improved treat.

"Mmmmm" she moaned. "Thats good!" Rum laughed and nodded. "What where those green things?" She asked.

"Pickles." She began giggling at the ridiculous name and he started to laugh with her when a shadow fell over his face.

"Belle?" She put down her burger and turned, looking up into the wooden brown eyes of her ex fiance.

"Gaston." She said.

Rumpelstiltskin looked like he had just swallowed a whole vat of pickle juice.

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**Welp, now you have to review and tell me you liked it so i can continue k? Thanks!**


	2. Onions

"You look great.' he said, staring down at her before glancing up at the man seated beside her. "But I see you are still accepting questionable company." Belle took a deep breath and smiled.

"Only if I were eating lunch with you, Gaston." She replied. He looked confused and leaned against the top of the booth.

"So now that we have been reunited, you should come home."

"I have a home." She said patiently. Gold looked at her closely, she had still yet to accept the offer of the apartments above the library.

"You are not still living with the beast?" He asked. Gold could feel the animosity rolling of Belle in waves.

"He is not a beast Gaston, He is my best friend, so stop talking about him like that. But, no I am not living with him, I have a home somewhere else."

"Where?" Gaston asked.

"I would rather not say, now if you will excuse us, Rumpelstiltskin and I were having lunch." She promptly turned back to her hamburger and began to ignore Gaston. He finally walked away and Belle sighed.

"Sometimes I really really hate that guy." She said. Gold nodded slightly, picking at the remains of his burger. He was still hung up on the 'best friend' thing. "Can I ask you something?" She asked.

"But of course."

"Erm, is it possible, I mean, may I still, well, can I live in the apartments above the library?" She asked softly.

"The apartment is yours, Belle, of course you can live there." she smiled up at him.

"Thank you." She began to finish her burger.

"Now my turn to ask you a question."

"But of course." She sweetly mimicked his tone from earlier. He granted her a quick smile.

"Why did you tell him that?"

"Tell him what?"

"That I was your best friend." She blinked.

"Because it's true." she said slowly. He smiled and opened his mouth to speak. "But I am still mad at you." He shut his mouth but the smile didnt leave his lips, her tone gave him hope for redemption.

"Let us have lunch tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yes." she said, "But remind me to leave the onions off."


	3. Cheese

**A/N: Well so far people seem to like it, so here is some more!**

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****Belle waited patiently for Gold to come to the library, she tried as hard as she could to continue cataloging books but her eyes kept wandering up to the clock on the wall. He was bringing her lunch from Grannies, but it was no the hamburgers she kept thinking about.

He kissed her on the cheek as he left her the day before.

She can't think of anything else.

The bell above the front door chimed and Belle tore her eyes from the clock and locked eyes with the man that she had been thinking of all morning.

"Hey." She said softly, smiling.

"Hey." He replied, returning her smile.

"Why don't we go up to my apartments to eat?" She offered.

"Sure." He said. They made their way up to her kitchen, hands brushing once or twice, electricity crackling between them.

They settled around her small, yellow checked table and began to eat.

"How is work going?" she asked.

"Same as always, love, here?"

"Fine." She said smiling and trying to ignore the feelings she had when he called her love.

They ate in silence for a little while.

"Belle, whats wrong?" Gold asked finally. She looked up at him from the ketchup face she as making with her fries.

"Nothing." She said shaking her head.

"Really?" He asked, reaching over and touching the back of her hand lightly. She unthinkingly linked their fingers.

"I just. I don't know. I am so confused right now, Rum, I was thinking about what I said to Gaston yesterday, about you being my best friend? Well you are, the best friend I even had, but-" She stopped and pulled her hand away.

"But?" She shook her head. "Come now, Belle, you can tell me anything."

"I don't WANT to be your friend. I want more than that. But I don't want to want more!" She groaned and threw her hands in the air before covering her face with them.

"I understand." He said. She peeked out from between her fingers.

"You do?" she asked softly.

"Yes, but you know that I can wait for you forever. You don't have to do anything you don't want to yet."

"I know." She said softly, "I think I just need time, and I was afraid..."

"That I would change my mind?" She played with her ketchup face some more. "Oh, darling, you are such a female, you have nothing, I repeat NOTHING, to worry about. I am here for you forever." She took a deep breath and patted his hand.

"Eat your food before it gets cold." She said lightly, picking up her hamburger and taking an bite. "Yum! is this cheese?"

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**A/N: Yes, yes it is, nice and cheesy. Review!**


	4. Tomatoes

**A/N: Holy cow a twofer! Maybe a threefer if im feeling it this evening!**

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"I just don't understand what you see in him is all." Ruby said leaning over the counter and setting another piece of pie in front of her new friend.

"Well I wouldn't expect you to." Belle replied with a smile.

"People hate him you know, they blame him for all of our problems. He was kind of horrid."

"I know he was, and he still is sometimes, but he really is a wonderful man."

"Yeah...I'll just take your word for it." Belle grinned.

"Fine by me." She took another sip of her sweet tea.

"So how are you, you know, adjusting to this new world?"

"Well, it's weird, it would be worse without the false memories, can you imagine-" A small man burs through the door.

"RED, RED!" Ruby whirled around.

"Dopey?"

"They are finally standing up against the Dark One! Come help!" Belle jumped up and flew from the little shop, not bothering to see who else came.

She came upon the scene and found Gold in the middle of a pack of people who were yelling and clamoring around him. He stood calmly, staring at the ground. His poised, trickster hands folded lightly on his cane. He didn't seem troubled by the people clamoring for his blood, and he didn't seem to be using magic. Belle stood dumbfounded as the crowd moved slightly closer, nervous to approach the Dark One.

She was afraid he could be killed, a gang mentality such as the one that was spreading through the crowd, was a dangerous thing.

She started through the crowd, muscling her way past pointy elbows and sharp shoes.

That is when the first tomato was thrown. She saw it sail over the crowd and land in front of him. The next hit his pristine suit. Suddenly they were coming from everywhere, seeming to be pulled from thin air. She shoved her way through the crowd and made her way quickly to his side.

"Rum!" She shouted, throwing herself in front of him.

"Belle! you need to go!" Belle felt a soft squish squelch into her side. She ignored the tomato that struck her, focusing instead on the man before her covered with blood like stains. She turned away from him, clenched her fists and screamed.

"HEYYYY!" The crowd stilled almost as soon as she quieted. "What are you thinking of! COWARDS! Go HOME! All of you! You should be ASHAMED OF YOUR CHILDISH BEHAVIOR!" Her hair was frizzing and standing on end, she was breathing hard and her face was as red as the tomato staining her beloved. "He ought to turn you ALL into slugs! You would DESERVE it! You don't treat a human being like that! What if it was your brother? Your husband? Your father or cousin of best friend or anything?"

"He's a monster!" Someone yelled from in the crowd.

"Yeah!" came agreements.

"OH MOVE OUT OF MY WAY!" Belle wrapped an arm around Gold's waist and walked through the jeering crowd, she marched him, head held high, straight to her apartments where she stripped him down and made him take a shower while she tried to wash his clothes.

The poor man did everything she said, shocked and a bit in awe of her. When he was clean and dressed in some of his own clothes (That Belle had filched when she lived with him) she sat him down at the kitchen table and began to rummage around in the cupboards.

"Belle, why?" He asked.

"Because, I love you, and nobody treats my family like that." He looked at her in surprise but she just kept on with the task at hand. She pulled a package of red meat from the refrigerator. "Now how about a hamburger, no blasted tomatoes though."

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**A/N: I hope you love:) review!**


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